Crisis and opportunity coexist,the UAE’s strategic position is highlightedd

Shen Chunlian， Vice President of Sales of MIE EVENTS DMCC？（“MIE Groups”）， observes that the UAE has taken the epidemic prevention and control as a longstanding measure， and the government has made it clear from the attitude， action and determination that it is promoting the recovery of the exhibition industry in the UAE in an orderly way.

Since December 2020， there have been exhibitions being held in the Dubai World Trade Center （DWTC） every month， the visitor flow of the exhibitions have not changed much compared with that before the epidemic， and Chinese exhibitors have also participated in exhibitions such as GITEX， ARAB？HEALTH， THE？HOTEL？SHOW DUBAI， INDEX DUBAI， ATM， etc. In the second half of 2021， several well-known industry exhibitions in UAE， such as BIG5， GITEX and Wetex， will also be held as scheduled. The expected 2020 Dubai World Expo has started selling tickets on July 18， 2021， and the preparatory work is in orderly progress.

Rapid adjustment to create closed-loop business

Shen Chunlian introduces that before the COVID-19 outbreak， MIE Groups organized nearly 30 exhibitions， more than 10 business meetings and received more than 36000 visitors in the UAE every year. After the outbreak， the groups business in UAE still adheres to the aim of “based in the Middle East and serving the world” to provide “one-stop” services for enterprises. The business in UAE has been transformed into online exhibition （independent GTW online exhibition platform）， online seminar（independent conference system）， offline agent exhibition， online + offline hybrid exhibitions and providing exhibition related software services.

In addition to adding the online business， MIE Groups has also begun to invest in building its own hotel， restaurant， fleet and operation service team to provide closed-loop service for visitors to the UAE， including booking air tickets， airport picking up， hotel accommodation， dining， exhibition and quarantine； it can also provide customized brand promotion， roadshow and activity planning according to the needs of the Chinese local governments and enterprises. In the upcoming Dubai Expo 2020 in October， the company will also provide Expo activity planning， implementation and group reception service for some local governments and brand enterprises from China.

The status of regional transfer station of the UAE will be highlighted again

Shen Chunlian predicts that in the next few years， the UAE will have stronger gathering capacity in the Middle East and African exhibition industry. In the past 5-8 years， apart from the UAE， other regions in the area also witnessed significant increase in the exhibitions industry. This to some extend has diverted some exhibitors who originally used the UAE as the main business transfer hub to enter surrounding destination markets.

After the COVID-19， other Middle East and African regions are not as good as the UAE in terms of epidemic prevention measures， travel convenience and border opening. The degree of recovery of their exhibition industry have been greatly weakened compared with that of before the COVID-19. Before， the UAE occupies a highly competitive economic and trade geographic location， the government has been attaching great importance to the development of exhibition industry， and this has resulted in the UAE as a popular exhibition destination and the country has cultivated many high-quality brand industry exhibitions. After the COVID-19 ， with the gradual opening of international boarders， the UAE is undoubtedly the best choice in the Middle East and Africa for exhibition. At present， the overflowing influence of the 2020 Dubai Expo will also help UAE as an important hub for economic and trade exchanges in the MEA region， and highlight the status and opportunities of the UAE as a transfer station.

Looking forward to resolving the crisis with innovation

Shen Chunlian points out that after this epidemic， the exhibition industry in the UAE is also full of crisis. The current exhibition is a business model highly dependent on physical space， which is restricted by many factors. Exhibitions in the UAE are different from those in most countries. They are not dominated by local enterprises， but with a high degree of internationalization， and the proportion of international exhibitors is generally higher than that in other countries.“We hope that the exhibition industry in the UAE will turn crisis into opportunity， successfully cope with challenges， lead new trends of exhibition industry with innovative exhibition mode as soon as possible， extend other exhibition modes except purely relying on physical space exhibition， and enhance the stickiness of international exhibitors. ”Shen Chunlian says.

Shen Chunlian also reveales that it is particularly noteworthy that in the era of Internet， the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce and smaller information gap will weaken the value of UAEs simple transit of goods trade. In March 2021， the UAE government announced the launch of a new industrial strategy called “300 billion action”， proposing to increase the output value of UAEs manufacturing industry by 2.25 times in the next 10 years to reach 300 billion dirhams. The overall goal is to create more jobs， stimulate R&D ， and increase the ability to cope with risks by expanding domestic production， especially food and drug production. Shen Chunlian adds that Chinese enterprises can also think more about whether the future development strategies in the UAE and its surrounding international markets need to be repositioned.

She also gladly reveals that since the beginning of this year， the enthusiasm of Chinese exhibitors to go to the UAE has greatly increased.